A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Generally, a locomotive carries no payload of its own, and its sole purpose is to move the train along the tracks. In contrast, self-propelled payload-carrying vehicles may be referred to as motor coaches or railcars.
Locomotives can be operated as single traction engines to pull or push strings of non-powered cars that together form a train. The locomotive power required to get a train from one point to another depends on various sources of resistance that need to be overcome. These resistances include the length of the train, drag from bearing friction, rail/wheel deflection, head wind, terrain, etc.
Continuous sources of drag can prevent the operation of a train at a desired speed. Additionally, propelling a train up steep grades or on slippery rail can exceed a single locomotive's power or the amount of tractive effort it can supply. A trailing locomotives may be connected to what could be considered the “lead” locomotive to provide the additional horse power or torque to push or pull a train.
A “locomotive consist” is a group of two or more locomotives. The locomotive consist as indicated earlier includes a lead locomotive and one or more trailing locomotives that are mechanically coupled and could be electrically coupled.
The mechanical coupling could be accomplished with a “coupler” and the electrical connection could be accomplished using the 27-pin control plug, cable and receptacle. The power and braking systems could use this control plug, cable and receptacle for communication so that the group of locomotives function together as a single unit. This 27-pin conductor cable is often referred to in the industry as the MU cable in that it physically connects multiple locomotives/units together. This connection could allow the lead locomotives to communicate to trailing units. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) specifies which functions are assigned to which pins. MU cables have been used since the 1930s to link the control systems which originally primarily consisted of relays and analog circuitry, typically communicating a simple ON/OFF state.
With advances in technology and computing devices, this basic link is no longer adequate. The ability to communicate more information, bi-directionally, and at a faster rate allows for the implementation of new processes and applications such as fuel management, advanced diagnostics, redundancy of components at a consist level, etc.
There are a number of ways to create an intra-consist network. Communication may be accomplished by adding high-speed network cables to the locomotives, or wirelessly. A wireless connection has various advantages, including retrofitting relatively easily existing locomotives, and providing a communication means between locomotives that are part of the consist but that are not electrically connected using the MU cable.
As of yet, establishing a communication network between units of a locomotive consist required the intervention of an operator. The operator would manually configure computers in each of the units by supplying each computer with the data required to connect to the network, including a password, a key code, and/or various parameters required for network communication. This process is time consuming, inefficient and prone to human errors.
The networked inter-locomotive communication systems in the prior art require considerable user intervention for setting up a network, and they are unable to automatically restore themselves in the event of an interruption.
There is a need for an intra-consist networked communication systems and methods that overcomes the above-mentioned shortcomings.